Silver Rylle Customal

Shire of Silver Rylle Customal
Customs and Procedures of the Shire of Silver Rylle

• A. RESIDENT

Any person living within the boundaries of the Shire as defined by the East Kingdom Zip Code List as maintained by the East Kingdom Seneschal is considered a "resident" of the Shire.
• B. MEMBER

Any Shire resident who participates in official Shire activities is considered a "member" of the Shire. A person does not need to be a paid member of the SCA Inc. to be considered a Shire member.
• C. ACTIVE MEMBER


• 1. Becoming Active

A Shire member is considered "active" in the Shire after participating in one (1) activity as defined below in II.E. during any three (3) month period.
• 2. Staying Active

To maintain their active status, a member must have participated in one (1) activity in the last three (3) months, where the Seneschal has the discretion to define "activities" more loosely than below.
• 3. Returning After a Hiatus

A once-active member who loses their active status, and then returns, becomes active again as defined in II.C.1.A. above.
• D. VOTING MEMBER
• 1. Any shire resident holding a valid membership from SCA, Inc. is considered a "voting member".
• 2. Any active member as defined above is also considered a "voting member".
• E. OFFICIAL ACTIVITY

Activities organized by the Shire are "official" if they are published in Cross Currents without a disclaimer: for example: meetings, fighter practices, demos, events, etc. For officers, sending your officer's report to the Seneschal prior to the meeting counts as attending the meeting for this purpose.

• A. Voting privileges in the Shire on any official non-financial decision are granted to Voting Members as defined above. In addition, voters must be of at least fourteen (14) years of age; however, the Seneschal has the freedom to waive this requirement for any specific vote.
• B. Voting privileges in the Shire on financial matters are controlled by SCA Inc Financial Policy, Sections VI and VII and are not affected by this document.
• C. The holding of any Shire Office, or of certain deputy offices as noted below, is reserved to active members, noting that Autocrat is an office, and that Corpora and East Kingdom Law may contain further restrictions.
• D. Proxy votes may be used only at the discretion of the Seneschal. See East Kingdom Law Section VII, Paragraph C, Point 4. Seneschals are urged to allow proxies only for officer elections.
• E. The privilege of suggesting changes to the Customal is granted to Active members, as noted in section IX.A below.
• F. All other activities not restricted above (or in Corpora or East Kingdom Law) are allowed for all interested people: regardless of whether they are members of SCA, Inc.; regardless of whether they are Active members of the Shire as defined above; and regardless of whether they are Shire Residents as defined above.

• A. Required Officers (Corpora V.4.b) (EK VI.H.3)
• 1. Seneschal
• 2. Herald
• 3. Knight's Marshal or Minister of Arts and Sciences
• 4. Exchequer
• 5. Chatelaine - If not filled, then another officer must assume the duties. See EK Law.
• B. Non-Required Officers (Note: this is not a definitive list, as the roster is subject to changes by decision of the Shire)
• 1. Deputies
• 2. Archery Marshal
• 3. Fencing Marshal
• 4. Chronicler
• 5. Chirurgeon
• 6. Minister of Lists
• 7. Chancellor Minor
• 8. Historian / Archivist
• 9. Librarian
• 10. Webminister
• 11. Quartermistress

• A. Appointment and Stepping Down
• 1. Officers may choose to step down at any time for any reason; in addition, if an office is open, any eligible candidate may approach the Seneschal about filling the office.
• 2. Any officer choosing to step down must report the decision to his deputies, if any, and to the Seneschal, before making any announcement to the Shire. A courtesy note is suggested to the officer's Kingdom superior, if any. If it is the Seneschal who is stepping down, it will suffice to tell his deputies and his Kingdom superior.
• 3. At the following Shire Meeting, the officer choosing to step down will announce this decision or the Seneschal will announce that an eligible candidate for a vacant office has come forth. In either case, the presiding officer (the person making the announcement) will then request that any other eligible candidates privately contact him. A courtesy note to the Seneschal is suggested. In the event that the presiding officer is unable or unwilling to follow through with the process, as defined below for appointing a replacement, the seneschal shall fulfill the requirements of the presiding officer.
• a) Any eligible deputies will be placed on the ballot automatically, after being given a chance to decline. They will then need to send in their qualifications for the office, as stated below.
• 4. All eligible Shire members will then have one month to privately make themselves known to the presiding officer, in writing, along with his qualifications for the office.
• 5. At the Shire Meeting following the announcement the presiding officer will announce all eligible candidates.
• 6. A vote will be taken among the Shire's Voting Members on the eligible candidates for the office.
• a) If there is only one eligible candidate for the office then the voting will be considered a vote of confidence and can be done at that Shire Meeting if the majority of present members agree to hold the vote at that time.
• b) If there is more than one eligible candidate for the office, or if the membership does not agree to hold an immediate vote of confidence in the preceding section, the names of the eligible candidates for the office and their submitted qualifications will be printed in the Shire Newsletter for review. At the following Shire Meeting the Shire will vote on the eligible candidates for the office.
• 7. The eligible candidate for the office, who gets the plurality vote of the Shire, will be submitted to the Kingdom level officer for approval.
• 8. If the submitted candidate is approved by the Kingdom level officer, he will take over the duties of the office by the following Shire Meeting. It is the duty of the retiring officer (or the Seneschal, in his absence) to instruct (or provide materials for instruction for) the elected officer in the duties of that office within the transitional month. If Kingdom disapproves the person who received the plurality, another vote will be taken by the preceding rules, using the original slate of candidates (with the exception of the person who was just disapproved by Kingdom), starting at the call for other interested candidates. If there are no other candidates, the office remains open.
• 9. In an emergency, the Seneschal can appoint a temporary officer until this process can be completed, which must not be unnecessarily delayed.
• NOTE: You need a section dealing with how to handle the replacement if the presiding officer is unable or unwilling to complete the procedure. My suggestion is to change some sections in this area to allow the seneschal to step in when there is an absent/unwilling presiding officer.
• B. Deputies

Officers may appoint any person to be their deputy for a number of reasons: to learn the responsibilities of the office; to help out with some part of those responsibilities; or because the deputy wishes to teach the officer what he knows about the job, though unwilling or ineligible to take it himself. Such deputies are not assumed to necessarily be heir to the office, although they are free to apply for it as described above (VII.A.3).
• C. Emergency Deputy

Required officers are strongly recommended, and non-required officers are permitted, to designate one of their deputies as their "emergency deputy", who must be eligible for the office as well as being willing to take it in the absence of that officer. The officer must inform the Seneschal of this designation. It is the duty of Emergency Deputies to keep the Seneschal informed of their eligibility for the office in question.

• A. Shire meetings will be held on the first Thursday of each month.
The date may be changed due to Pennsic, holiday, or inclement weather.
• B. An official meeting will consist of at least six (6) active members, among whom must be the Seneschal and the Chronicler or their deputies.
• C. The four (4) required Shire officers (see IV.A) are strongly suggested to be present at the meeting.
If these officers cannot all be present their deputy should report in their place. If this is impossible they may designate someone else to give their report at the meeting, or may send it to the Seneschal prior to the meeting, in which case the Seneschal will give it in their place.
• D. No major changes to an office or its operations can be made if the affected Shire officer or someone representing them is not present.

• A. Requirements for Adding, Changing, or Deleting a Custom
• 1. The person proposing the custom change must be an Active Member of the Shire (see III.E above).
• 2. The relevant officer, if any, must be present (see VIII.D above).
• B. Voting on Customs
• 1. Any Voting Member of the Shire can vote on custom changes.
• 2. Any proposed custom additions or changes will not be voted on at the meeting at which the proposal was made. The proposal will be published in the Shire newsletter and will be voted on at the following Shire meeting.
• 3. A majority of Voting Members in attendance will be required in order for the proposal to be accepted.
• Note: a majority of what? The attending voting members attending the meeting? This needs to be spelled out. Do not use a majority of the voting members of the shire. From experience, this can be a disaster where you may never receive that many people at a meeting, let alone receive their consent and then your document can't be changed without a variance from the Kingdom Seneschal's office.

• A. The official spokesman from the Shire to the Media shall be the Seneschal or his designee.
• B. See the policies of the Shire Chatelaine.
• You may want to make Chatelain a required office if you are going to include this subsection.